A useful form of exercise

For years now, my wife Jolanda has enjoyed a form of exercise that’s a public service. She and her friend Marney regularly hunt rubbish/trash/garbage in the streets and parks of Healesville. They call themselves the Garbage Grannies of Healesville.

I’ve tried to talk them into letting me take a photo, but they’ve refused.

At first it was only the two of them, but now Jolanda often comes home, telling me they’d met others doing the same.

This activity keeps them fit, and helps to improve the beauty of a naturally lovely-looking location. It is also a very environmentally useful activity, saving birds here, fish and other aquatic animals in the Yarra River, Port Philip Bay, and the sea beyond. After all, I’ve often thought that, should any humans survive to become archaeologists of the future, they’ll identify our times as the plasticoferous period.

Thanks to my subscription to Treehugger, I’ve learned that the Garbage Grannies of Healesville are not alone, but part of a global group of joyful volunteers. Apparently, in Sweden, the activity is called “Plogging.”

As grandmother-aged ladies, the local ones use pick-up devices, and walk rather than run, but it adds to their health, wellbeing, and feeling of community.

Why not join them?